says debutant filmmaker Ashwiny Tiwari on why she went with the such a whacky title for her next film, Nil Battey Sannata.
says debutant filmmaker Ashwiny Tiwari on why she went with the such a whacky title for her next film, Nil Battey Sannata.
In the trailer, she effortlessly pulls off the demure and meek look of an innocent and illiterate mother entering school as a student with plaited hair and uniform. But the glamorous Swara Bhaskar is nothing like her character on screen. The lady, who was (not fashionably) late for this chat session at The Asian Age office, said that punctuality was never her strong suit. She says she’s quite the ‘nil battey sannata’ or a good for nothing in such matters. Matching Swara’s effervescence is her director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari. The quieter and more reserved Pankaj Tripathi is a perfect foil for these two. He plays the role of Swara’s headmaster in the film.
As the three dig into some hot maggi and misal pav, we get them to talk about their life, work and their upcoming film that’s gotten everyone talking. And even without the youngest member of the cast (Ria, who plays Swara’s 15-year-old daughter in the film), they make up for quite a fun bunch. Excerpts from the tete-a-tete: So what’s with the title that’s gotten everyone baffled Explain it to us like you would a five-year-old. Ashwiny: It’s a very North Indian slang. And let’s face it everyone in India loves slangs! So ‘nil’ is your English for nothing and ‘sannata’ of course means complete silence. To put it simply, it means someone who is good for nothing. It’s very colloquial to the region we’ve shown in the film, which is Agra.
Pankaj: It is basically something that your headmaster would tell you in school (he explains, while cheekily taking aim at his on screen student Swara) What’s the film all about Swara: It’s about a very inspiring subject and an absolutely brilliant story. If you have even an ounce of humanity, you would definitely be touched by the relationships shown in the movie. And it’s not just the one between my character and her on screen daughter, but also the one she has with Ratna (Pathak Shah, who plays her employer) and with Pankaj sir, her headmaster.
Ashwiny: At the centre is the sweet and touching relationship between a mother and a daughter living in a small town. It’s a serious subject but we’ve made sure that it’s also a lot of fun to watch. Ashwiny, you are an ad-person turned-director. How and why did you decide to take up this project Ashwiny: Films are something that I’ve always wanted to do. And the idea to take up this subject came up when I was doing a campaign for KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati) about educating the girl child. I am a very emotional person by nature and I couldn’t help being moved by the stories I was surrounded with. That’s when I decided that I had to make a film with such a story. Swara, this is once again very different from your previous works. What made you choose this script Swara: Well to be honest, I got this film just the way you get any other film. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra told me that there’s this role with a debut director and asked me to meet Ashwiny. But the reason why I chose to do it is funny. When she first narrated the story to me, I was very happy because I automatically assumed that she wanted me for the role of a 15-year-old. So when she told me that I would be playing the mother, I was kind of offended and the only thought going on in my head was ‘this woman is mad’. I basically took the script only to read it and reject it. But once I read it, I absolutely fell in love with it and immediately took it up because no matter who she had gone to with it, everyone would have said yes to this role. Tell us a little about the setting. Why Agra Ashwiny: It’s a town with a confluence of three cultural pasts — Hindu, British and Mughal. And because towns like Agra make up almost 70 per cent of our country and yet they are explored so little. I knew the kind of setting I wanted and Agra provided it perfectly. I also wanted to show an Agra that is completely different from the one that only brings to mind the Taj Mahal. The relationship between Ratna Pathak Shah and Swara comes out beautifully in the trailer. Tell us more about it. Swara: So my character works as a maid at Ratna ma’am’s home and they have a very beautiful relationship. Ratna ma’am has given it a very sober and honest, non-preachy touch as an employer and a friend, who wants to help this girl set an example for her daughter.
Ashwiny: You won’t see this kind of a bond in cities. Ask anyone, especially those who are a little old, living in the countryside or a small town and they will always tell you about that one person who is their confidante. For my mother it’s her neighbour and for my father-in-law, it’s the roadside panwala and similarly for Ratna ma’am’s character it is her house help. There is also a very nice relationship in the film between Pankajji and Swara as well, which is very different from your usual headmaster-student bond. It’s not parallel cinema, but neither is it outright commercial or a documentary. So what genre exactly does Nil Battey Sannata fall into Ashwiny: It belongs to no one genre. I believe that all these tags are given by the industry itself to divide it. I don’t believe in them. For me, it is just an interesting story that needs to be told. When Mother India or Guide released, did anyone call them art films No, because back then the focus was on the story. That’s exactly what I want to bring back. Why should anyone go and watch this film Swara: Because it’s a film that won’t just make you laugh, but will make you cry tears of joy — the best kind of tears. I realised that people watching the film laughed once every six minutes and that’s how much it keeps you occupied. There is no way one could say they can’t connect to it.
Ashwiny: To put it simply, watch it because you’ll relate to it. It’s a story that has elements taken out of all of our lives.
